They sat Deathwatch as the entire polity's leaders refused the "evil" medicines that were desperately needed to cure the deadly virus sweeping their empire. The leadership died of the virus, the few people left, the sick and the very few immunes, reached out. The leaders are gone, please help us? -- Anon Guest
Greater Deregulation Lower Median North-Northwest was dying. Worse, it was dying of a preventable disease.
It wasn't often that a whole world died of Measles[1], but it was happening. It was even rarer that a whole world blockaded any and all medical intervention because of imaginary poisons, but this was a Greater Deregulation. They were founded on willful ignorance and profit for profit's sake.
It should not have been shocking that such a thing happened, but the shock didn't care about those rules.
The CEO's of the world did what they did best. They denied the problem, delayed action against it, attempted to distract their people with showy displays... and inevitably fell to disinformation. Snake oil, bullshit advice, and a clear misunderstanding of how cleaning things worked.
The last of Greater Deregulation Lower Median North-Northwest's CEO's died by injecting drain cleaner into his veins after the first red spots turned up on his tongue. It was not an attempted suicide, but attempted self-curing because he believed his own bullshit.
Never trust Deregger "medical science".
For a heart-stopping hour, the Alliance observers believed the world had died. Transmissions slowed to a halt as none of the Media Smiles still available had anything fed to them to say.
The last word from the planet was, "Do we roll it? The tape at the end of the world? Not yet?" Followed by a scripted, smiling announcement, "Dear viewers, we are temporarily suspending the news until there is news that we know we can report. This host wishes you all the best of luck."
Then, an hour after all other signs of activity ceased, a new face. One dressed in a janitor's uniform. Their complexion glaring under the lights. "Hello? Hello. I know this is on, I can see the broadcast. Um. There's... nobody in charge any more. Nobody knows what to do. There's the sick, and those who can't get sick... and I think there's a few people shut up in their homes and stuff, but that's it. We don't know what to do... and we need help. Please? Help?" A moment as the janitor dug out a comms device. "I have a friend who works in the last boss' mansion. The shutdown codes for the defence network is..." Squinting at the screen, they read out a series of letters and numbers.
The Alliance didn't need a second invitation.
It's not often that a Deregger world gets saved from its own mess, either, but the Mediks of the Alliance were glad that this was one of them.
[1] Measles can and will KILL people. I remember that era in my childhood. Fact: I could have died of Measles myself.
[Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [72 remaining prompts!]
